This past week we had a class of 24 students. Two of them were women. We had two instructors, one woman, one man.

This was a level 300 course for technologists.

I was glad that the two female students were just as out-spoken as their male counterparts.

In my experience, that ratio is about right for the students in the classes I teach.

What do we need to do to encourage more women into these jobs? 

What do we need to do to keep women in these jobs?

It starts with helping girls find a comfortable place to explore the sciences.  And not just computer science.  We are losing women all the time and we should be finding ways to encourage each other.

Here are a few girl-focused events to look.  Mentor.  Attend.  Take part. 

Engineers week is in February, with Girls day on February 25.  What do you plan to do to make a difference?

Big thanks to Molly Bukowski from Teza Technologies for contacting me and bringing this back into focus for me and giving me the kick in the pants I needed to get back to writing.

I was recently contacted by Molly Bukowski from Teza Technologies about this problem.  They are trying to do something about it.

The Hello World podcast by Shawn Wildermuth has been getting the stories of how folks began their journeys in software.  He's going on the road and taking his show with him. And I'm going to be the guest at the stop in Denver on March 24.  Join us at the Microsoft office in the evening from 6:30-9.  We'll chat and then also Shawn with give a talk about ASP Core.  Seating is limited, so reserve your spot now!

If you can't make the Denver stop, have a look, there's probably a stop near you.

See you in Denver!

The xRMVirtual session on Tuesday September 1 had to be cancelled last minute because of technical and audio difficulties.  Here we offer you some insights from CRM MVP Ramon Tebar Bueno on how to get the most out of Convergence in Barcelona this November.  Romon’s blog can be found here:  http://www.ramontebar.com

There are three primary areas to focus on at Convergence; Community, Sessions and of course, the wonderful location in Barcelona.

To get the most out of your time with the CRM community you can focus on networking, the customer experience center and the customer excellence awards.  It is here that you meet and network with other like-minded professionals.  You never know when you might need someone with an obscure specialty to help with a project down the road.  The customer experience center is sometimes called the expo hall.  This is where you can interact with vendors and Microsoft to learn more about options that are available to help you meet your customer needs.  The customer excellence awards are a great opportunity to be inspired by teams that are successful in the Dynamics arena.

The sessions are provided by both customer and Microsoft.  You can learn about individual solutions from a successful implementation or directly from the team at Microsoft about exciting new features.

And now to Barcelona.  Take an extra day or two to explore the area.  This part of Spain is beautiful and worth exploring.

click here to register

Edited to add:  The good folks at the conference have extended a discount to our membership. Use the codes below for special pricing and thank to the good people at eXtreme.

Standard Conference Discount Code  - Earlybirdsandiego
Executive Exchange Discount Code - Earlybirdexecexch

Hurry and register, the discounts expire September 14!

The xRMVirtual session on Tuesday September 1 had to be cancelled last minute because of technical and audio difficulties. So here is some information from  Chief Executive Officer of eXtreme, LLC, Christy Spokely and Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of eXtreme LLC, John Verdon, on how to get the most out of eXtreme CRM 2015 in San Diego from Nov 17-19th. You can check out more by clicking here https://www.extremecrm.com/eXtremeCRM2015SanDiego/tabid/88/Default.aspx

When you come to eXtremeCRM 2015 San Diego you will gain new business connections and new insight on the upcoming release. You will spend a week connecting with peers, Microsoft leaders, industry experts and gain new business connections along with a lot of information.  You will find value whether you are sales, marketing, consulting, technical sales or development. Our training is designed to fit every role.

eXtremeCRM is one-of-a-kind opportunity for participants to immerse themselves in everything CRM.  The conference is your chance to increase your knowledge, refine your thinking, and connect with your colleagues and with others from Microsoft. Whether you are preparing for the upcoming release or have questions, being part of eXtremeCRm will help with that. So come be a part of our conference in sunny San Diego at eXtremeCRM!

The xRMVirtual session on Tuesday September 1 had to be cancelled last minute because of technical and audio difficulties.  Here is some insight from the Director of CRMUG Tony Stein on how to get the most out of CRMUG in Reno-Tahoe October 13-16, 2015. You can find Tony’s blog here https://www.crmug.com/crmug/blogs/tony-stein.

CRMUG Goals for the 2015 Summit are to demonstrate the VALUE that everyone brings to the community, to provide top notch CONTENT, education and programming, to help our COMMUNITY grow, raise AWARENESS of the growing community, provide a strong NETWORKING environment and of course, to have FUN. CRMUG’s summit attendance growth has risen since 2008. From 113 to 750 and we are still growing.

There are many different job roles that attend CRMUG summit. To name a few who attend there are CRM support, IT, Business Analysts, CEO, Marketing and more. We are the largest Microsoft Dynamics CRM User training conference, By registering before Sept. 15 you can save money, go to www.crmugsummit.com/register there are half and full day course available. Classes are filling up fast.

Also enjoy listening to Keynote speaker George Kourounis deliver an inspiring address to kick off the summit on Wednesday morning. If you choose to stay longer in beautiful Lake Tahoe, there are exclusive lodging deals available for CRMUG summit attendees!! Hope to see you there!!

DENVER DEV DAY

The previous Denver Dev Day (D3) was the third D3 and it was awesome. With more than a 75% attendance record of 150+ attendees, we blew the windows out with awesome speakers and our first all-day conference. The word is out and D3 is the premier fully community-led developer conference in Colorado. Twice a year, D3 brings some of the best local and national speakers to the stage to lead developers into the high-tech and fast-moving future of software development.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

It’s time for the next Denver Dev Day! On October 23, 2015 we will hold the fourth D3 with better tracks, speakers and content than ever. This is a big deal and it’s free to attendees. That’s right, one of the best conferences is open and free to developers on any platform and at any skill level. Come learn something new, hone what you know, or network with great developers from all around our community. D3 is a great experience, super-charged with community volunteers just like you.

CALL FOR SPEAKERS

Been working on some cool tech lately? Maybe it’s time to take your learning and share it. If you’re a regular speaker or just considering your first presentation, Denver Dev Day is the right place for you. Our session topics are open; that means you can submit any topic where you feel strong and have a passion to share and teach. We also have lightning talks where you can present more pinpointed presentations in a much shorter time. We’re flexible because we want to get you in front of your peers to share the wealth – making others better ultimately makes you better, too.

SUBMISSIONS DUE SEPT 15, 2015

When you’re picking your topic, start with what you know well. Everyone knows that the teacher learns far more than the student, so pick a topic you love – your passion will come out on stage as you start to present. After you’ve picked your topic, pick your timeframe. Most talks are 45 minutes, but only you can decide what is best: Lightning talk? Extra-long talk? Finally submit your presentation idea online at http://aka.ms/ddd-speakers. Feel free to submit more than one topic, too. If one topic doesn’t get selected (maybe because it was already submitted elsewhere), maybe your other one(s) will.

Submit at: http://aka.ms/ddd-speakers

EXPENSES

As always, we don’t pay our speakers or have the funds to pay for travel or expenses. That being said, starting last Denver Dev Day we have begun to provide a “thank you” gift to each speaker based on the number of sessions you present. This will barely cover your dinner, so don’t get too excited. But we want to do what we can – even if our resources are limited – to extend our gratitude for your willingness to prepare and bring your best for our local, developer community. D3 is for and by our community; this event, with your help, has helped establish Colorado as a homerun location for developers.

SPONSORS

Denver Dev Day is free. The only working funds we have are those from our sponsors and gifts from our volunteers and attendees. This makes sponsors very important to us. If your company or a company you know would be a good fit at Denver Dev Day, please make an introduction. We have several levels of sponsorship to find the perfect fit for any company wanting to gain visibility from D3 or contribute to our local, developer community at large. If your company or a company you know would be a good fit, please move quickly so we can make a connection with them.

Sponsor info: http://aka.ms/ddd-sponsor

TICKET AVAILABILITY

We are not yet selling tickets for Denver Dev Day. Our last D3 opened ticket sales 2 weeks before the event and we sold out in the first week. No question about it, this is going to happen again. We don’t have a venue that can scale past 150 attendees at this point, so we will continue to constrain ticket sales for the next D3 in October. I say that to say this, watch for more information – tickets will go on sale (remember, they are free) sometime in October and it is 100% first-come-first-serve. We want ever developer in Colorado to come to D3, but we can only fit 150 in the building. Should you know of another, larger venue, we are always open to vetting venues for our next event.

GRATITUDE

These types of events are products of people with passion. We have many volunteers in leadership planning our next event already. We have many volunteers on the ground during our event. And we have many volunteers speaking or managing speakers for the event. Things don’t just happen on their own. Real people do real work and we are grateful for the small army of hard working volunteers who sacrifice and contribute to make our local developer community better and events like this successful.

MORE INFORMATION

Questions about speaking?
Questions about volunteering?
Questions about sponsorships?

Web site: http://aka.ms/ddd
Email: [email protected]

I wanted to let you know about a great free event that Microsoft and the MVPs are putting on, May 14^th & 15^th.  Join Microsoft MVPs from the Americas’ region as they share their knowledge and real-world expertise during a free event, the MVP Virtual Conference.

The MVP Virtual Conference will showcase 95 sessions of content for IT Pros, Developers and Consumer experts designed to help you navigate life in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.  Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Developer Platform, Steve Guggenheimer, will be on hand to deliver the opening Key Note Address.

Why attend MVP V-Conf? The conference will have 5 tracks, IT Pro English, Dev English, Consumer English, Portuguese mixed sessions & Spanish mixed sessions, there is something for everyone! Learn from the best and brightest MVPs in the tech world today and develop some great skills!

Be sure to register quickly to hold your spot and tell your friends & colleagues.

The conference will be widely covered on social media, you can join the conversation by following @MVPAward and using the hashtag #MVPvConf.

Register now and feel the power of community!

As I finish getting ready to start my next trip I wanted to take a minute to invite you to join in the fun, the Innovation Challenge. 

This (very) friendly and fun competition gives you an opportunity to work with motivated folks and a group of CRM MVPs.  The MVPs joining the fun have many different backgrounds, not all of us are developers! 

At the end of the conference teams will present and the crowd will select a winner.

Bring your ideas and bring your enthusiasm and meet us in Madrid.

Sign up in advance to join us here

(be there by Monday morning 9am April 20)

Lots and lots of buzz going on around Convergence and what we might see and learn.  Who will we meet?  What connections will we make that fills our pipeline for the year?  Why not get a head start and attend PreGAME on March 15?

I will be hosting a panel of fellow MVPs at PreGAME to discuss Build vs Buy for your CRM scenarios.  Sometimes it’s an easy decision, sometimes it’s not so binary.  Come join us for a chat and bring your own stories and questions.  This group of speakers love audience participation, it keeps us on our toes!

There are several other sessions you could attend and a reception after.  OH, and IT’s FREE!!  Just register!

More details can be found with the Dynamics Partner Connection folks here

I’ll be there….holler if you want to help…send along the link to any young women you think should attend.  Here’s the details:

Microsoft is excited to announce DigiGirlz 2015 is open for registration.

Please join us on April 15^th, 2015 for a full day of great activities including hands on development, career panel, and more. It is a great opportunity to meet other young ladies interested in technology while connecting with Microsoft employees in their work environment.

Come dream about your future possibilities, share your great ideas and have a lot of fun with a technology leader!

The event is free; registration is now open on a first come, first served basis.

Register: https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/117360

Location: Microsoft Store: Park Meadows Mall

Address: 8505 Park Meadows Center Drive
Lone Tree, Colorado 80124
303-824-6772

Time: 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM

· Students in grades 7-9 are welcome to register

· Online release forms must be signed and submitted prior to attending event

· Transportation to the event is the participant’s responsibility

· Breakfast and lunch will be provided

· See registration link for additional information

DigiGirlz, a Microsoft YouthSparkprogram, gives high school girls the opportunity to learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and participate in hands-on computer and technology workshops. For information on global DigiGirlz events:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/programs/digigirlz/digigirlzday.aspx